The Secret Life of Bees

After three and a half years of deep thought and writing, Sue Monk Kidd published her first novel, The Secret Life of Bees. She credits most of her influence of the novel to her hometown Sylvester, Georgia. The novel was published in 2002 which “became a genuine literary phenomenon” (http://www.suemonkkidd.com/Author.aspx). Sue Monk Kidd makes statements with her literature, in this novel and previous books. She has revealed her search and transformation with spirituality and her feminist thought. In this novel particularly, she addresses many themes that relate to women.

The Secret Life of Bees is a story set in South Carolina in 1964, about a young fourteen year old girl named Lily Owens who grew up in a patriarchal household. Her mother was killed when she was four, leaving Lily to be raised in a harsh culture where her father makes the rules. The minimal feminine attributes from their housekeeper Rosaleen end up finding Lily’s true home after many events post Civil Rights Movement. In the first chapter of this novel, Lily’s thoughts refer to her Christian upbringing; an excerpt from her novel,

“I want to say the bees were sent to me. I want to say they showed up like the angel Gabriel appearing to the Virgin Mary, setting events in motion I could never have guessed."

Indications like these, in her novel refer to the culture that Sue Monk Kidd represents in reality. She graduated from Texas Christian University and later studied feminist theology. References to this new movement of reconsidering the gender roles of women in religious practice are briefly touched in her novel, The Secret Life of Bees. Sue Monk Kidd’s struggle for gender equity is paralleled to the gender inequity of Lily’s life and the adventure with her housekeeper Rosaleen.

The civil Rights Act meant for Rosaleen the right to vote. This movement changed the lives of many women in America and was the very cause of Lily’s decision to run away from her father. In the novel, Rosaleen encountered a harassing scene with three white men on her way to register to vote. As a result, Rosaleen and Lily are put in jail where Rosaleen was treated with misogamy by being brutally beaten. Through this, Rosaleen and Lily decide to follow the belongings of Lily’s mother, Deborah, to discover a new home. They end up at the Boatwrights who are a family of Beekeepers.

This family, of women, honors a “Black Mary” or “Black Madonna”; she gives them hope. Lily learns from these women and begins practicing their religion. The environment she transitions to, mid novel is a matriarchal culture of strong colored women who built their honey business from their religious values of Mary. This family shows Lily love and despite the racial discriminations throughout the novel, Lily realizes that the Boatwright sisters are her family.

Lily’s spiritual quest is similar to Sue Monk Kidd’s feminist theology. Her culture of religion and family make statements of equality, as do the themes in A Secret Life of Bees.

- Tina Duarte

If you wish to read The Secret Life of Bees refer to:

http://books.google.com/books?id=FiIXot_e10sC&dq=the+secret+life+of+bees&printsec=frontcover&source=bn&hl=en&ei=bmHPS4nkJZjcswOPmZivDg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CCYQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q&f=false

If you wish to visually experience The Secret Life of Bees, it is also available on screen.

The Secret Life of Bees was one of Sue Monk Kidds greatest novels. Its popularity among communities sprung the idea of transferring the novel into a film. In this trailer, the themes discussed above are briefly touched.

-Tina Duarte